Stephen King Writing Exercise

Based on the book "On Writing"
Background: On page 167 thru 170 of the book, Stephen King gives the following information about a writing exercise. We are given a scenario where Dick has escaped from jail and is stalking his ex-wife, Jane and their little daughter, Nell. Jane drops off her daughter at a party and returns home. While enjoying a cup of tea in the kitchen, the news on TV announces the break-out of three criminals with one still at large. Jane gets frightened and thought she can smell Dick's favorite after shave from a distance.

Now here's the twist King throws in:

Reverse the roles. It is Dick who is in the kitchen and hears the news of the breakout and believes that Jane is going to get him.
Now the reader has to write five or six pages of how the story develops from that point.
Since I’m living in Germany I’ve decided to use German names and places in my interpretation of this exercise, so here it goes ….

Richard needed time to relax.
After dropping off his daughter Nell at her friend’s birthday party he drove to the new house he had bought – financed with Jenna’s estate money he had won from the divorce court. Now that Jenna was proven to be psychologically unstable to live a normal life as a housewife and mother, she had to be detained at the mental hospital in the suburb of Haar, east of Munich. That was only a week ago, but it took two years of pure hell to make it happen.
At first the marriage was great. Of course Jenna had little habits and perks which bothered him, but nobody has a picture-perfect marriage. She was at least great in bed – perhaps that’s why he married her. Everything was fine until after Nell was born. Richard recalled how angry and paranoid she had become whenever he came home late from the office, or from coaching his junior football team twice a week. She thought he was having an affair – he denied it.
Of course he was having an affair. Jenna stopped having sex with Richard about four years ago because she couldn’t endure another painful birth, which indeed, almost killed her. She wouldn’t compromise with Richard; perhaps using birth control or some alternative pleasure-giving method at least for his sake. No, she shut herself off, like a nun making a vow of eternal chastity. What else was Richard to do? He had to lie – he didn’t want to separate or divorce Jenna, for Nell’s well-being; she needed both her parents at home.
As time passed, the paranoia and the accusations festered. At first, it was only verbal jabs, then came physical beatings – not from him, but from her. On the night she had struck Nell out of rage, Richard decided that enough was enough; a divorce was inevitable. After months of separation and court cases, Richard had won custody of Nell, but it didn’t end there. Jenna had abused her visitation rights and stalked both father and daughter. Richard moved twice to different towns in the Munich area, but somehow she found them again – and terrorized their lives. He had no choice, Richard had to take legal action and put her away. Jenna had no other relatives. She inherited money from her father’s business after he died. The funds were transferred to Richard after she was locked away, which he used to finance a used house in Starnberg, directly on a large lake, south of Munich.
Now it was time to start life all over again. Richard told his girlfriend he needed time; time to be with Nell, time to settle in the house, time to gather inner peace and stability. He hoped she would understand – perhaps a new relationship really could grow out of all this. Time was needed – Richard needed a little time to relax.
It was December; it got dark already before 5:00 PM. The birthday party would last two hours or so, enough for a cup of tea in the kitchen and watch the news from his favorite leather office chair near the old iron wood stove, giving off warmth and comfort. A phone call to his girlfriend would also give warmth.
“Hi, how you doing?” Richard asked.
“Doing well. You hanging in there?” She asked. “I miss you.”
“I miss you lots too.”
“Do you want me to come by?”
Richard was about to answer when he smelled something unusual – almonds. Why would that spook him? “Not yet, honey. I need to call you back. Something’s bugging me.”
“Please don’t stay alone, Richard. I love you. You’ve gone through so much. You’re just still nervous, that’s all.”
Richard’s attention moved to the exclusive update on the local TV news screen. Three women had escaped from the asylum at Haar just two hours ago. Two guards were shot and killed. Two of the women were caught by the police, but one was still at large – and considered to be armed and extremely dangerous.
“Richard? … Are you all right? Speak to me.” Richard felt a dosage of ‘angst’ shooting though his veins. He had to turn off the TV with the remote control.
“I’ll call you back,” was all he said and switched off the mobile phone.
Almonds. Almond-scented shampoo, Jenna’s favorite. Only she would have used that type in the asylum. Was that the sound of footsteps coming downstairs? Jesus, this can’t be, he thought, still seated in his chair, muscles twinge with freight, adrenaline pumping. He bent down and grabbed his footstool as his only weapon, then bent up and turned, taking a look behind the leather chair.
A shot rang out – Richard was hit in the right shoulder – stuffing from the chair exploded out like little white storm clouds. He screamed in pain, but threw the footstool toward a dark shadow near the kitchen entranceway. It crashed into the ceiling lamp with a shower of splintered glass and sparks – the entire house became pitch black.
Another shot fired in the darkness. It sounded like the bullet ricocheted on the iron stove and exited the window near the sink. Richard crawled away from his toppled office chair to hide; the sound of the shots rang loud in his ears. Through the tinnitus-like ringing, he could barely hear his ex-wife speak to him, “Turn on the light, Richard. I can’t see you.”
He shivered. “How did you find me? What do you want?” Richard wondered why he was speaking to his escaped ex; was he trying to negotiate? For the sake of survival?
“Cut the bullshit, Richard. I broke out and I’m going to kill you for ruining my life.”
Another shot rang out, the bullet whizzed close to Richard’s ear while he lay curled up in a ball. He slid again, close to the iron stove for protection – he felt blood oozing from his shoulder; he hoped his artery wasn’t hit.
“Jenna, let Nell and I live our lives. If you go back to Haar now I won’t press charges.” What a stupid thing to say, he thought.
Another shot fired. It sounded like a vase exploded or something. Richard had to act – he reached for the stove and grabbed the tea pot, still full of hot water. I hope she only has a six-shooter and not a magazine full of bullets, he thought.
“You lied to me, Richard. You f+++ing liar. You had many affairs. You have no respect for me. Why should I respect you anymore? You locked me up and took my money, you son of a bitch. I’m going to kill you!”
This time two shots were fired. One hit the stove again and the other went through Richard’s chair and into his left shoe – his little toe felt like it got shattered. He cringed and felt like fainting, the pain was so overwhelming. But he knew six shots had already been fired. There was one more weapon at his disposal; he opened the bottom drawer of a cabinet and felt the new flashlight – with its 500 watt bulb.
“Jenna, be reasonable …”
“You’re the one who’s unreasonable, Richard. I hate you. You ruined my life. I’m going to kill you and that bitch girlfriend of yours. I heard you talk to her on the phone right now.”
Richard placed the flashlight on the stove and pointed it in Jenna’s direction, but didn’t turn it on yet. With his other hand he opened the lid of the teapot and got ready.
“You can’t escape from me, Richard. I’m going to kill you. I know I hit you, I can hear you squirm in pain. You know what? I love it when I hear you suffer. I’m going to enjoy it very much when I shoot you dead … dead … dead!”
“Do it then. Shoot me. Kill me!” he screamed, turning on the 500-watt flashlight and moved away from the stove.
He saw Jenna in the massive bright light, still in her hospital clothes, wearing a security-guard’s jacket. Her clothes had blood stains, her long red hair messy and wild, she still looked beautiful in Richard’s eyes, but her eyes were full of madness. She held something that looked like a semi-automatic pistol in both hands. She screamed at the light and opened fired several times. The flashlight exploded into pieces with the bullet impacts – the kitchen went dark again.
Tracing the muzzle flashes in the dark, Richard swung the teapot and struck Jenna in the head. Now it was she who was screaming in pain. The hot water must have scolded her.
“You f+++ing bastard, you burnt me!”
He had to move forward to disarm her – it was painful to get up. He picked up the leather chair with both hands and threw it in the direction where Jenna cried out. It must have made contact because she screamed louder when the chair made a bumping noise. Then it got too quiet.
Richard hunched down so his silhouette couldn’t be seen in the kitchen window – he made it to the entranceway and could hear her weep somewhere on the floor nearby. He felt blood flow out of his foot and shoulder and thought he would black out soon. All he needed to do was step on her wrist and take the gun – but where was it?
Jenna’s free hand held one of Nell’s flower pots; when she sensed that Richard was standing next to her in the dark, she threw the pot.
Richard felt full impact of a blunt object smashing into his face and forehead – he fell backwards on the floor – like a boxer after a grueling bout, he remained down for the count.
Jenna reached up and felt a light switch on the wall. “You think you’re so smart, Richard,” Jenna said while climbing to her feet and switching on a single hallway light, “but I’m smart too, and I’m going to empty the rest of my clip into your head and chest, you son of a bitch!”
In the feeble light, she could see Richard laying half-conscience; Jenna stood over him, with a burnt eye and blistered red face from the scolding water. She aimed the gun at his heart and placed the finger on the trigger.
A bullet entered Jenna’s head from another direction and she fell over – a pool of blood quickly formed where she lay. The sound of footsteps ran up to Richard –soft, gentle hands held his head.
“My God, Richard, are you alive?” gasped Richard’s girlfriend. He opened his eyes and saw her friendly, concerned face.
“How, how did you know?” he whispered.
“I saw the news too. Oh my God, Richard, you’ve been shot.” She pulled out a tissue and tried what she can to stop the bleeding on his shoulder. “I’ve already called the police – they’re on their way.”
Richard tried to get up but couldn’t. “Nell, I got to pick up Nell …”
“You’re going to the hospital, my love. I’ll get someone to pick up Nell. We both need to tell the police what happened.” She pressed harder on his shoulder to stop the bleeding; her fingers covered with the warm fluid. She placed her head on his chest to hear his rapid heartbeat, to give him warmth, to show that she loved him; he could hear the sirens coming closer and see the blue lights flashing through another window.
Richard placed an arm over his girlfriend in an embrace. Weak from from blood loss he said, “It’s amazing … how Nell and I … fell in love … with the local champion … sharpshooter. Where have you been … all my life?”